Process of refining spelter.



AEN FFICEQ CHARLES WESSELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF REFINING SPELTER.

SPECIFICATION forining part of Letters Patent No. 698,163, dated April22, 1902.

Application filed April 29, 1901. fierial No. 57,917. (No specimens.)

have invented certain new and useful Im-- provements in Processes ofRefining Spelter, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a process for refining spelter; and its objectis to convert a comparatively cheap grade of spelter-for example, thatknown as Western or J oplin spelterto a finer grade which has the highquality of Eastern spelter and brings a proportionately higher price.The cheap grade of spelter is found to be unsuitable for making Germansilver or the better qualities of brass, and it has been necessary touse for such purposes a high grade, as stated, made from more expensiveores,the supply of which is limited. By my invention the suppliesoflow-grade spelter, which are comparatively abundant and cheap, are madeavailable for these special uses.

My invention may be carried out in any suitable melting apparatus"say acrucible holding five hundred pounds or an iron pot holding two thousandpounds or a reverberatory furnace with a capacity of twenty thousandpounds or more. I will describe my invention as carried out with acrucible of five hundred pounds capacity.

About one pound of crushed horn (cows horn) is placed on the bottom ofthe crucible and five hundred pounds of cheap spelter (Western spelter)are placed in the crucible, which is then raised to the melting point ofthe spelter. Then I add one-half pound of phosphorus for every onehundred pounds of spelter. This may be done in various ways. I prefer towrap up one-half pound of phosphorus in damp paper, tie it with cord orzinc wire to the end of a Wood pole or iron rod, plunge it to the bottomof the melted spelter, and hold it there until the phosphorus is allabsorbed or melted off. This operation is repeated until one-half poundof phosphorus is used for every one hundred pounds of spelter in themelt. o The melt may then be cast in the usual manner. It will then befound sists in treating the melted spelter with phosthat the resultingdig or block of spelter has go a different appearance from the originalspelter, its crystallization being sharply defined, regular, andbrilliant, while the crystallization of the original spelter wasmottled, ragged, and dull and was mixed with considerable porous orgranular structure. The refined spelter is in this respect very similarto the high-grade spelter produced from New Jersey ore, but is, ifanything, more'brilliant and regular than the latter. A correspondingimprovement in the qualityis found when the spelter is used in themanufacture of alloys, as above stated. I have also found that by addingtwo ounces of magnesium to every one hundred pounds of spelter thequality can be still further improved, especially if it is to be usedinmaking German silver, as the German silver made with spelter so treatedbecomes much more ductile and malleable and canbe spun up withoutannealing. The addition of the magnesium can be effected, as abovedescribed, for phosphorus. It 'is possible to improve by such additionnot only the refined spelter above described, but also New Jersey orBerthaspelter.

I consider phosphorusas the essential material for carrying out theprocess; butit may housed in connection with other material, such ashorn=clippings or magnesium, the essential feature being that thematerial used shall contain phosphorus in condition suitable for actingon the spelter.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as newtherein and desire to secure by Letters Patent: 7

1. The process of refining spelter which consists in treating the meltedspelter with phos phorus.

2. The process of refining spelter which conphorus and with magnesium.

3. The process of refining spelter which consists in treating the meltedspelter with horn, phosphorus and magnesium.

CHARLES \VESSELL.

\Vitnesses:

J. GREEN, A. P. KNIGHT.

